Harry couldn't help but notice the heavy bags under Ginny's eyes. He felt like he should have sat with her until she was asleep. Gently, he placed a plate of eggs, bacon and bread in-front of her, wanting her to gain the weight she had lost.
"You alright?" he asked quietly, sitting next to her with his own breakfast in-front of him.
"Yeah…I'm…fine" she said uncertainly, she sighed deeply and then started on her breakfast. Well, started pushing it round her plate.
Looking round the table she saw how half of the inhabitants were sitting round the table, all the children and many of the adults. The few missing were Henry, Mica, Pip, Taylor, Remus, Ash, Chris and Luke. She assumed they would be on a mission, or else doing something for the order. Harry quickly finished his food, as he only had toast.
"See you later Ginny, I'm going out. Don't push yourself; let yourself recover before you do anything to extreme. Oh, and don't go outside of the house. The streets are crawling with Death Eaters."
"So don't have fun basically?" she replied, Harry knew that she would hate having to be kept trapped inside and having nothing to do. He smiled slightly at her comment.
"Sorry, but it's better than being caught," he pushed her plate closer towards her "eat."
She shovelled a spoonful of eggs into her mouth; she let the warmth and flavours of the food fill her. It had been so long since she had had a proper meal and now she found that she could hardly manage half of her meal. She leant back on her chair and ran her hands over her stomach, she didn't realise how much weight she had lost until now. She could feel her ribs and realised how unwell she actually was.
For a few hours Ginny tried to read the books that were scattered randomly around the house, it seemed each room she walked into had a stack of books somewhere. However, she was soon bored by the books and silence of the house. So she quickly exited the room and found herself wandering down to the kitchen. As she strolled in she saw Jane sitting at the table with a picture clutched tightly in her hand. Ginny gently walked over and placed a hand on her shoulder,
"Oh, hello dear, how are you feeling today?" she asked meekly.
"Better, thank you. A lot better than I have been in a while, actually!" Jane smiled weakly at Ginny, she seemed to be more exhausted than Ginny "Who is that?" she asked indicating to the picture that now rested on the table.
"Oh…that's dear Marcus. My husband, we…we lost him to the d-death eaters. Poor Lucy, she needs a father…" Ginny felt a deep sense of sorrow for this woman, she saw a little of her mother in Jane. Strong in her own way, a mother who would do anything for her children and it made Ginny like this woman even more "I'm so grateful he came for us." She half whispered to herself.
"What?"
"Harry, we were on the run. On the streets, it was no place for Lucy, and when we went to Diagon alley they…they attacked us. They wanted to know who we were and our blood status, I'm muggle-born, so we ran. They didn't care if who got hurt as long as we were killed. Then…then they sort of appeared, they had masks on and sprang at our attacker, they took us back with them, that was four or five months ago." Ginny smiled slightly, it was typical Harry. He would never leave someone to the mercy of them, not if he could help it.
Suddenly, Chris came staggering into the room. In his hand he held a newspaper in a deadly grip; he had sweat dripping off his forehead and was panting heavily.
"Where…is…harry?" he managed to gasp out.
"Harry's out, what is it?" Jane asked handing him a glass of water; he gulped it down and glanced at Ginny,
"It's important, where'd he go?" he asked desperately, she took the glass and placed it on the table.
"He went to visit Shacklebolt; apparently he has a bit of information from the Ministry."
"Shacklebolt," Ginny said "I thought he would have been fired."
"Oh, he was demoted, now he barely knows anything but we still need someone on the inside!" Jane replied.
"Ok…what about Jake?"
"He's upstairs," Jane replied quickly, Ginny watched this exchange with confusion "in his room."
Chris nodded his thanks before tearing out the room and up the stairs. They heard him shouting for Jake as he went.
"He'll get the whole house panicking." She muttered under her breath, Ginny noticed how she had large bags under her eyes and her wrinkles were becoming clearer even though she could only be early thirties.
"What do you think that was about?" she was eager to find out, but of course Jane didn't know,
"Must be something urgent, the way he was running around it's like You-Know-Who himself was outside!" she sighed, knowing that if the kids knew something was up they would start causing trouble.
They continued their conversation, Ginny told her about her family and how much she missed them. In return she told Ginny about her time at Hogwarts. Then, just as the conversation was reaching its end, Jake walked calmly into the room. Ginny saw the look on his face and felt her heart stop; it was one of fear and anxiety.
"We need a meeting, now." He said clearly and calmly "I've sent a message to Shacklebolt and he and Harry will be returning soon, get everyone down here. Make sure the kids are upstairs will you Ginny?" he asked her, as Jane started getting extra chairs and placing them round the table. She nodded and headed to the den, the den were the kids spent their time. Soon, Ed would start home schooling. He would get a wand and would be taught whilst in hiding. They all knew it was going to be hard, Ginny had been shocked they were going to try and get a wand when she found out the night before.
Now as she entered the room she couldn't help but let a smile cross her face. In one corner Ed and Hayley were playing a competitive game of wizard's chest. All the overs were charging round the room,
"Hey guys!" she said cheerily, they all spun round and stopped in the middle of their actions, except Ed who made a skilled move and managed to take Hayley's knight.
"Hi!" was the loud, excited cry back from everyone.
"Ok guys, you've got to go upstairs now! Quick guys please!" They all groaned but made their way upstairs, it wasn't until she had counted them as they walked out that she realized someone was missing, jack! She quickly looked around the room, searching under tables and in cupboards. When she was certain he wasn't there she ran upstairs,
"Ed, where's Jack?" she asked quickly.
"Err…I think he was in his room, top floor, second door." Ginny nodded her thanks and left them to their games.
As she gently pushed open the door and peaked in. Jack was sitting on his bed with a large book; he had a small frown on his face. As she slipped he looked up and quickly tried to hide his book.
"Jack, what are you doing?" he didn't reply, instead he buried his head into the pillow. She rested her hand on his back lightly and slipped her hand under his pillow pulling out the book. She opened it to a page with a folded corner. On it was a large map of London, lines had been drawn and rubbed out and redrawn on the map. "What are you doing, Jack? Where are you trying to go?" He looked up into Ginny's soft brown eyes and whispered,
"Home" she gently stroked his hair in a motherly way.
"Jack, sweetie, you can't go home. Do you know why you're here?" she sat him up on her lap holding him tightly and discarding the book.
"Because of the man, the bad man" he whispered.
"Jack, listen to me, you can't leave here. There are bad men out there and…"
"GINNY! COME DOWN NOW!" a voice called from downstairs, interrupting her "IT'S IMPORTANT!" it was Jake calling her down, so she quickly ran down after hearing the urgency in his voice.
She arrived in the kitchen panting for breath; everyone was gathered round the table with grave expressions, Harry was rubbing his forehead nervously. She noticed the tears welling in the corers of his eyes, making them shine with sadness and sorrow.
"Ginny, can you sit down please" she frowned slightly, but quickly took a seat. As she sat down Jake picked up a paper and smoothed down the front cover. He placed it on the table, directly in-front of Ginny. Her heart stopped; on the front of the paper were two all too familiar face.
Fred and George who were both bruised and barely recognisable, their clothes were not the usual smooth and stylish suits, but tattered rags. Their ginger hair filled with filth, their eyes empty. They had lost their spark. Above the picture in bold black letters were the word TWINS UNDER ARREST, Ginny didn't bother reading the article; she knew why this had happened. Her...
"Ginny, Ginny look at me," after several minutes of sitting in silence Harry came and kneeled by Ginny "it isn't your fault." He took her hand tightly, but she pulled away sharply.
"But it is, if I had just kept my mouth shut and my head down I wouldn't have got out! They wouldn't have gone for my family! Who'll be next after Fred and George? Mum, Dad? Ron? Then who will they go to when they're all gone? Hermione, Luna? I can't sit here and let that happen, if I go back everyone will be fine. They'll leave them alone!" she screamed at him, all eyes were fixed on her. She fell back into her chair, which she had left minutes ago. She took deep calming breaths whilst trying to fight back her tears.
Harry looked at the others in the room, all uncertain of what to do. Ash, luckily, helped him,
"Come on" she whispered dragging Jake and Wolf along behind her, soon everyone followed leaving Harry and Ginny alone, he pulled up a chair and sat next to her.
"I know what you're thinking, it's not happening." She glared at him, he knew her well enough to know what she was thinking, she was thinking of going back, giving herself up.
"How'd you know what I'm thinking? What am I thinking?" she asked sourly.
"You want to give yourself up, and it is not happening." He said shortly,
"No I'm not!" he raised his eyebrows; he knew when she was lying "Fine! I am! But it would mean everyone is safe, no one's hurt!"
"Except you…and me" he whispered.
"You?"
"You don't know how much it hurt me not having you near me, knowing you could be being tortured. It killed me Ginny! I missed you with all my heart! I'm not letting it happen again, never again!" she stared at him, why did he have to make it so hard to hate him?
"What else can we do?" her eye were filled with desperation, she needed her family.
"We'll get them out, I'll get Jake to get a few of the Shifters together, but we'll have to do it soon. When their security is at its weakest so before, or as, they get taken to their trial."
"Where is the trial?"
"It'll be in Diagon Alley, trials are more about getting people to snitch these days." He replied, her eyes widen with fear for her brothers as she realised the torture they could be put through.
"You better be quick Harry" was all she whispered, he nodded and left, as he was in the doorway Ginny said "I missed you too" she quickly slipped past him, if she had stayed a little longer she would have seen a smile, the first real smile in a while, spread across Harry's face.
